"Get an adult rescue dog thats mellow and well socialized."

Those aren't the dogs that usually end up in rescue. Rescue dogs tend to have stupid/lazy/ignorant/etc owners who create the problems and the next owner (if any) ends up having to deal with them. The new owner, if motivated and knowledgeable, first has to deal with the bad behaviors, THEN train them into the good behaviors. Many owners and many dogs don't understand the concept of change.

If you're wanting a dog for survival purposes, you're probably going to fail. What Dweste wants is a robot dog. Robot dogs do exist (usually of the working breeds), but they generally don't act independently with varying conditions, they just wait for commands. If someone throws a large mail bag over you and whacks you in the head with a length of pipe, without any verbal or hand commands, the dog will probably just stand there and watch.

Suppose you do get a 'survival dog', chosen and trained, and you never need it? What then? Is the dog treated as a pet/friend? Is it left out in a run or chained to a stake for the next ten years?

As far as I've seen, the protective instinct in dogs seems to be determined by his relationship with his family. The dog is protecting HIS owner, HIS kids.

Sue